After retiring from her career in real estate, Dr. Anne Marie Evers
became an international motivational speaker, author and workshop
facilitator. Known as “The Affirmations Doctor”, this ordained minister
and counselor has applied her training in child psychology and personal
development to several children’s Affirmation programs, including the
popular anti-violence Affirm and Learn Enhancement Program, the Kids’ Affirmation Program (KAP) and The Kids Affirmation Club.

Dr.
Evers coaches individuals, families, businesses and community
organizations, and currently is a talk show host of 4 different live
radio programs broadcast over the Internet and short wave. Her
best-selling book Affirmations, Your Passport to Happiness has inspired people around the world, and her latest publication, Wake Up…Live the Life You Love, was co-authored with Deepak Chopra and Dr. Wayne Dyer. She is also author of Affirmations: Your Passport to Lasting, Loving Relationships and Affirmations: Your Passport to Prosperity/Money, several ebooks and affirmation booklets.

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Sitting
in the living room of this quiet suburban home, you would have no idea
of the extraordinary energy, passion and enthusiasm of its owner…if it
weren’t for the intense conversation taking place. Dr. Evers is on the
phone, counseling one of the many people from around the world who
contact her for help. Retirement for this widow means being engaged
with people on a daily basis, counseling, teaching seminars, conducting
workshops, writing, making guest appearances on radio and television,
and hosting her own radio talk shows.

“I’m glad I can make a
difference in people’s lives,” says this ageless wise woman after she
hangs up the phone. “When I retired after 20 years in the real estate
profession, I gave myself permission to do whatever I wanted, and so I
spend my time helping others, communicating, growing and opening myself
up to what life has to offer.”

Since she retired, Anne Marie
has become an ordained Minister, receiving her Doctorate of Divinity in
July 2006. She is District President for British Columbia of the
International New Thought Alliance (INTA) and was commissioned to chair
the INTA World Congress in Vancouver, B.C. Last year, shortly after
printing the 6th edition of her best-selling Affirmations book, the first edition of the #1 best-selling series Wake Up—Live the Life You Love was
released. In addition to continuing to write books on affirmations, she
developed a very popular personal growth tool called The Cards of Life and created several websites to promote her books CDs, courses and other products.

Giving
back to others is a possibility at any age. Recently, Dr. Evers was
actively involved in obtaining the release of Peter Kimber, a Canadian
who had been unjustly imprisoned in Mexico for two and a half years
where he was charged with fraud and building without a permit (a crime
he did not commit). She heard of his plight when Mr. Kimber’s daughters
met her after one of her speaking engagements. With the support of
several other people, a letter-writing campaign and emails to the
courts and the prison system, a website (www.freepeterkimber.com) and
numerous phone calls to him in prison to keep his hopes alive, he was
released 129 days after Anne Marie learned of his case. “This was
definitely stepping outside of my comfort zone,” she admits. “Not
everyone who knew me understood why I was doing this, but it was what I
chose to do.” Dr. Evers is now working on obtaining the release of
Brenda Martin, another Canadian captured under false pretenses and
being held in a Mexican prison.

Mr. Kimber, who is now safely
living in Canada with his daughters, adds, “Anne Marie is on the most
enlightening people I’ve met in my life. Without her and her book, I
wouldn’t have made it through the experiences I’ve been through. She
has this uncanny ability to call exactly when you need to speak with
her, and it was only through her efforts and her continuous support
that I was able to keep faith and obtain my freedom …”

Dr.
Evers’ work with affirmations and creative visualization also applies
to anything in life, including retirement. She sees retirement as a new
beginning, another opportunity to move outside of our comfort zone and
to step outside the box of how we have defined ourselves in the past.

“Retirement
is when I left all the ‘shoulds’ behind and started living my dreams,”
she admits. “I believe that if you fall in love with what you do,
you’ll never have to work again…and that life was meant to be lived and
enjoyed. Sharing my ideas, experience and expertise through my
affirmations work is an expression of who I am. Retirement is actually
fun when you have no deadlines and you’re focused on making your dreams
come true.”

In terms of lifestyle choices, Anne Marie advocates a healthy approach to aging that includes:

• Forgiving yourself and others (and thereby avoiding wrinkles, anxiety and depression)
• Accepting, caring for and respecting your body by eating properly and getting plenty of rest and exercise
• Focusing your self-talk on living a long, happy life and growing healthier every day
• Creating
  a healthy balance between work and play, activities and rest (She
  confesses, “I am a ‘work in progress’ when it comes to this…it is so
  easy to throw myself into work and helping others that I found that I
  had not been making time for myself.” She adds in a very serious tone,
  “This is very important for every one of us.”)
• Laughing and having fun!

As
she takes another call, I affirm that my retirement will be at least as
satisfying and fulfilling as Dr. Evers’ obviously is…and that she
continues to make a difference in the world for many more years.